Voting is a crucial part of any democracy in the world, and Nigeria is no exception to that.
With the general elections of 2019 fast approaching, it is always better to check if your voter status on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) voters database.
If you want to vote in the State House of Assembly, Governorship, National Assembly or the Presidential elections of 2019, you need to have a voter identity card issued by the INEC and your name should be on the voters register.
Just having a voter ID is not enough for you to cast your vote. That’s why it is very important to check your voter status well in advance of the elections.
How to check your voter status on INEC e-voter platform
Follow these steps to check your voter status.
- Go to the INEC voter status verification system
- Here you can search for your voter status by two methods – check status using Voter Identification Number (VIN) or check status using your Date of Birth (DoB)
Check status using VIN
If you have your VIN, go through these steps to check your voter status:
- Go to the INEC voter status verification system
- Click or as the case may be, tap Check Status Using VIN
- Here, enter your state of registration, last name and full VIN or last 5 digits of your VIN correctly
Check status using DoB
In case you do not have your voter identity card with you and thereby do not have your VIN, these steps should help you check your voter status:
- Go to the INEC voter status verification system
- Click or as the case may be, tap Check Status Using Your Date of Birth
- Here, enter your state of registration, last name, first name, DoB (Day, Month and Year, accordingly)
- Make sure to enter these details correctly
If your voter information is found, the search query will return with details of your full names, your VIN, gender, occupation at the time of registration, time of registration, state, local government, registration area (ward), polling unit and polling unit code.
The polling unit returned by the search query is the only place you can vote in the country
If your voter information is not found, the search query will return with the message: “Your name and VIN combination was not found in the register”.
This means you won’t be able to take part in the 2019 elections, or any elections in the country.
However, if you registered during the continuous voters registration (CVR) exercise, you can check back later as INEC is still working to update the voters register.
Otherwise, check that you chose the right state, and your VIN and Last Name are spelt correctly and try again.
Identity cards in Nigeria do not always have correct spellings of people’s names, or sometimes, correct details of their date of birth.
We know several people whose names have been misspelt on their voter ID cards, and others who have been given different birth dates.
There are chances that search may not yield the desired results because the spelling of the name or details of date of birth do not match what is on the Commission’s database.
INEC has, however, provided Citizens Contact Centre numbers you can call to rectify any issues you might have: 0700-2255-4632, 08180958715, 08180958717, 09050858675.
Also, the Commission let you check your voter status via SMS. To do this, send an SMS with your State, Last name, VIN to 081-7164-6879.
- Format: State, Last name, VIN
- Example: Lagos, Ediri, 12345
You should receive a response within 15 minutes.
Note that text messages are charged at the local network rates.
It is only 112 days, from today, to the 2019 general elections, beginning Saturday, 16 February 2019.
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